Good Marriage = Good Health

A less-than-earth-shattering report out today suggests that happy marriages have husbands and wives with lower blood pressure, while those classifying their marriages as “unhappy” have increased blood pressure – higher than that of singles!

While the report admits that it is far from conclusive, the initial findings are of interest. Said the news report:

Analysis found that the more marital satisfaction and adjustment spouses reported, the lower their average blood pressure was over the 24 hours and during the daytime. But spouses who scored low in marital satisfaction had higher average blood pressure than single people did.

More study is clearly need, if for no other reason than to remove much of the subjectivity inherent in this study. The study suggests blood pressure in unhappy marriages is worse than being single, but it says nothing about blood pressure in good marriages vs. singles. The implication is that those in good marriages are more healthy (in terms of blood pressure, anyway) than those who are unmarried. Still, one result ought to be potently clear: good marriages mean good health.

Such a result ought to motivate us, our leaders, and our society to encourage marriages to be “good” by any means necessary.

More than that, if the implication be true, we ought to work very closely with the single community, helping them identify the person they choose for a mate. Evidently, the decision will affect not only their happiness, but their overall heart-health.

Perhaps all the talk of nationalizing health care or increases in health insurance costs could be reduced if only we, as a society, worked to make marriages strong.